How to Feng Shui Your Workplace and Free Your Design Mind

Are you starting a new business? Expanding out of your home office, or even into multiple locations? Or are you simply looking to reinvigorate your work process?

As an entrepreneur, it’s really important to have a comfortable and peaceful workplace. So take some time when updating your work environment to maximize your creativity and efficiency.

Before you hit the furniture store for a new desk, consider Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is a Chinese system of organizing your life and environment in harmony with the universe, and the many forms of energy within it. Some believe that certain forms of energy, or chi, can be helpful to your pursuits, and others harmful.

The overall goal of Feng Shui is to arrange your physical environment to harness the good forms of energy, and repel the bad.

Even if you are not a believer in the larger implications of Feng Shui, its core principles will benefit anyone (even a messy entrepreneur).

Try some of the following ideas to get your creativity (and productivity) flowing.

Keep Your Workplace Organized – and Good Looking

Feng Shui principles consider clutter to be “blocked energy.” These blocks keep you from progressing and slow you down, so eliminate clutter in your office.

Try these tips:

Develop a way to organize whatever you tend to collect: business cards, product samples, etc.

After you have it organized, take the time to decorate your office. Make it a personal and pleasant place to be. After all, you are spending at least a third of your day there.

Feng Shui principles advise decorating with natural materials, such as wood, stone, and plants. Spending time outdoors can improve your well being, so why not bring some memories of your outdoor adventures in the form of your decor?

A stone from your favorite beach, a cactus from your desert hike, or even just prints of your favorite vacation photos can bring back great memories.

Then, consider the first impression that your office makes, both on your clients and on you. The entrance to a location is considered by Feng Shui practitioners to be the “mouth of chi,” the portal where energy enters.

How does yours look? Can you invest in improving this space? The first thing that is seen can often set the tone for the entire experience – think of impressive hotel lobbies, and the importance of “curb appeal” in real estate.

Check out the eclectic lobby at yelp.com headquarters, versus the sleek, modern decor at Dow. You can get a feel for the company culture without seeing a single person, or product.

Novelty Sparks New Notions

Novelty has been proven to affect us. New objects, people, environments, and situations activate our brains. You don’t always have to bring in something new. Instead, you can get rid of something old. Feng Shui teachings emphasize less over more. Can you get some more space back, and give your workspace a different feel at the same time?

Balance Brings New Business

Balance is also a large part of Feng Shui. Think of the iconic ying yang symbol, composed of equal parts of black and white. Balance your day if, your projects allow it. Alternate intense creative work like writing or visual design with organizational or analytic tasks. Giving your brain a break can allow inspiration to strike. When in doubt, get moving and think on it: take a walk, regular exercise can boost creativity.

The other side of making your workplace balanced is to keep it defined. Limit certain activities to specific areas or times. Does email eat up too much of your day? Create a set time for it, so that it will not overrun your day. Focus and purpose are important parts of Feng Shui. Productivity can be increased by limiting possibilities. Think about how much harder you work out at the gym versus at home: there are no distractions at the gym!

Investing in Your Space Pays Great Returns

You don’t have to be interested in incense to make Feng Shui work for you. Remember that less can be more, but invest time, effort and even a little money where it counts. Your actions and environment can hold the keys to unlocking your best creative work.

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